Collapsible tubular container



April 28, 1953 TAYLOR 2,636,644

COLLAPSIBLE TUBULAR CONTAINER Filed 001;. so, 1948 I nvenlor ALBERT .TqnoR Patented Apr. 28, i953 COLLAPSIBLE TUBULAR} CQNTAlNER Albert Taylor, London, England, assignor to Burroughs Wellcome & 00. (U. S. A.) Inc., Tuckahoe, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 30, 1948, Serial No. 57,450 In Great Britain January 2, 1948 2 Claims. (Cl. 222-92) As is well known in the case, for example, of

the ordinary tooth paste tube, it is a matter of some difiiculty to eject the last portion of the contents of the tube. The waste involved through the tube being thrown away whilst still containing a fraction of its original contents is not serious in the case of such a commodity as tooth paste, but it is appreciable when a relatively valuable material forms the contents of the tubular container. For example, in the case of oil-wax suspensions of penicillin containing 25,000 inter-.- national units of penicillin in each millilitre of the suspension, it is found in practice that in order to be certain that at least the stated quantity of 20,000 units of penicillin may be available for use when the tubular container is squeezed it is necessary to pack approximately 30,000 units of penicillin in the tubular container as about 8,000 units is left behind in the shoulders and nozzle of the tubular container when the tubular container is squeezed out in the normal fashion.

It is the object of this invention to prevent this wastage of valuable medicaments or other valuable contents of collapsible tubular containers.

In accordance with our invention we first partially fill an inverted tubular container with the desired medicament or other main contents in fluid, semi-solid or paste form, and then place on top thereof in the inverted tubular container a small quantity of an inert semi-solid material which is cheaper or more readily available than the main contents of the container and immiscible or not readily miscible therewith at normal storage temperature and which has no injurious effect either upon the main contents of the tubular container or upon the body or any material to which such main contents are to be applied. The open end of the tubular container is then closed and sealed in the usual manner.

The invention includes the method of filling a collapsible tubular container and also the filled containers.

When the tubular container is squeezed the inert semi-solid material functions, in efiect, as a piston, and the desired contents are fully expelled, whereafter a little of the inert semi-solid material is expelled. Thus, the full amount of the valuable contents present is made available for use and the tubular container when it is thrown away contains only the inert material of relatively low value.

in thickness is usually amply sulficient for the purpose of this invention. In the case of small tubes containing a millilitre or a little more of medicaments, less than half a millilitre of inert semi-solid material will be required, though excess will not do any harm.

The semi-solid material besides being inert and non-injurious as above specified, preferably has a specific gravity lower than the valuable contents of the tubular container and a melting point or softening point slightly above body temperature and above any temperature that the filled container is likely to experience during storage and use. It is fed into the tubular container in a molten state and floats upon the surface of the valuable contents of the tubular container in a sharply defined layer. Preferably it also has a higher viscosity than that of the valuable contents of the tubular container; it is then possible to know when all the valuable contents of the container have been expelled because there is a sudden increase in the force necessary to be applied to expel the contents by squeezing the tube when the higher viscosity material reaches the nozzle of the tube.

The semi-solid material serves a further purpose in preventing the movement of the fluid or semi-solid valuable contents within the tubular container.

The semi-solid material may be in the form of a jelly. It may be distinctively coloured so that the user is aware that the whole of the desired contents of the tubular container have already been expelled and only the inert material remains.

As an example, and for purposes of illustration only, it may be stated that small tubular containers containing oil-wax suspensions of penicillm, 25,000 units of penicillin in each millilitre of a suspension thereof in a vehicle comprising 5.0% by weight of ceresin (British Pharmaceutical Codex) in arachis oil, the containers being fitted with long nozzles and being intended for mtra-mammary injection of the penicillin suspension into the teat canals of cattle, may comprise as semi-solid material soft parafiin having a melting point of about 50 C. The suspension and the soft paraifin are delivered in turn to the open and inverted tubular containers, in accordance with customary manual or mechanical fillmg procedures. The soft paraflin is delivered at a temperature just above its melting point and immediately congeals. The tubular container is then sealed by welding and folding over of its open end.

The specific tubular containers just described are shown by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the container, and

Figure 2 is a side sectional elevation of the container looking in a direction at right angles to the direction of sight in Figure 1.

The tubular container is indicated at I0 and has a long hollow nozzle I l adapted for insertion. into one of the teat canals of a cow. The screwthreaded removable cap is shown at "[2, Thecontainer In is sealed by folding over of its end and crimping as shown at l3.

The penicillin suspension is indicated at M and the soft parafiin filling at [5.

What I claim is:

1. A tubular container having an outlet opening of restricted dimensions, a relatively larger collapsible body portion, a flowable plastic material containing a valuable antibiotic substance filling the collapsible body portion from the outlet opening to a point immediately adjacent the opposite end of the body portion, a relatively small amount of an-inert fiowable plastic material of low-value, immiscible with the main References Cited in the file of this patent UNiTED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,219,263 Davis Mar. 13, 1917 1,320,858 Hitch Nov. 4, 1919 1,760,773 Penney -j i i May 27, 1930 1,791,611 Borchert Feb. 10,1931 2,361,647 'Nyden v r o-o- Oct. :31, 1944' 2,477,200 Penney Julyi26, 1949 

